The Savage She-Hulk #1

History

Stan Lee wrote and co-created She-Hulk with artist John Buscema specifically because Marvel feared Universal Television — then producing the hit live-action Incredible Hulk series — might introduce a female Hulk spin-off, just as producer Kenneth Johnson had spun The Bionic Woman out of The Six Million Dollar Man, thereby establishing competing intellectual-property rights. Writer David Anthony Kraft, who would script the remaining 24 issues of the series, later recalled in Sean Howe's book Marvel Comics: The Untold Story that the character was produced under severe time pressure, describing it as a near-panicked rush to get the book on stands. The issue was edited by then-Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter (per the Marvel Database), with Tom DeFalco also receiving an editorial credit; it was penciled by Buscema and inked by Chic Stone, with a cover date of February 1980 but a release date of November 13, 1979. It was the only She-Hulk issue Lee himself wrote — Kraft took over with issue #2 and, alongside artist Mike Vosburg, shaped the character's distinctive personality for the rest of the original run.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance and complete origin of Jennifer Walters / She-Hulk (Earth-616), titled 'The She-Hulk Lives!'
• Written by Stan Lee — the only issue of the series he scripted — with interior art by John Buscema (pencils) and Chic Stone (inks); cover also by Buscema.
• She-Hulk was the last Marvel character Stan Lee created before his return to comics with Ravage 2099 in 1992.
• The character was created to preempt any television spin-off: Marvel was concerned that Universal, producer of The Incredible Hulk TV series (1977–1982), might introduce a female Hulk character and claim the rights, as Kenneth Johnson had already done with The Bionic Woman.
• The story establishes Jennifer Walters as Bruce Banner's cousin and a criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles; after being shot by hitmen working for crime boss Nick Trask, she survives only because Banner gives her an emergency blood transfusion of his gamma-irradiated blood, triggering her transformation.
• The issue includes an in-story recap/retelling of the Hulk's own origin — featuring flashback appearances by Igor Drenkov and Rick Jones — tying She-Hulk's genesis directly to the mythology of Incredible Hulk #1.
• The issue has been reprinted in numerous collected editions, including the Essential Savage She-Hulk Vol. 1 (2006, black-and-white), the Marvel Masterworks: Savage She-Hulk Vol. 1 hardcover (2017, full color), the Savage She-Hulk Omnibus (collecting all 25 issues plus Marvel Two-in-One #88), a True Believers: Empyre — She-Hulk reprint, and a Facsimile Edition released in late 2022.
• She-Hulk launched from this debut to become a member of the Avengers (Avengers #221, 1982) and later a substitute member of the Fantastic Four, and has headlined multiple solo series through the present day, including the Disney+ television adaptation She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022).

Cast · 6 characters

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